This invention is relates to a drinking cup for learning, used to train babies to take liquid beverages or liquid foods.
Babies take liquid foods like milk by suckling, but as babies mature it becomes necessary to train them to take liquids, such as water or juice, from a cup with a large mouth rather than from a feeding bottle with an artificial nipple.
Conventionally, a caregiver, such as the mother, will scoop up liquid in a small spoon and give it to the baby, training the baby to drink. This is not the same as drinking from a cup and cannot train the baby to drink liquid contents directly from a container.
However, even if one tried to give babies liquid directly from a container such as a cup, they are unable to take liquid without dribbling it as adults do, because their mouths and lips are not yet developed.
In other words, babies are unable to make the movements of drinking continuously by taking a certain amount of liquid into their mouth from a cup and appropriate learning tools are required in order to train babies for such drinking action. The learning tools needed in order to carry out appropriate training in drinking movement for babies, helping them to perceive liquid coming from a container through the baby""s lips, have not yet been developed.
In other words, in regard to such training, it is necessary for liquid to be introduced, in a naturally appropriate flow, into babies"" mouths. At this time, we need a tool that can be used to train babies to detect with their lips the amount of liquid. Also, it is desirable to train babies to drink directly from a container with a wide mouth, such as a cup, to complete the training. A drinking cup for learning that is structured for step-by-step training, in response to these requirements, is not known.
This invention was made to solve such problems and has as its purpose the provision of a drinking cup for learning through step-by-step training, so that babies between the stages of taking only milk and taking natural foods may acquire the technique of taking liquid or liquid foods naturally, without dribbling.
The purpose described above, in regard to this invention, would be achieved by a drinking cup for learning, including:
a main container for containing liquid, the main container having at least a cup-shaped opening; and
a drinking spout member removably attached to the main container, wherein the drinking spout member includes an opening communicating with the main container and a top-opened guide means provided with barrier portions forming at least both side edges
According to the aforementioned structure, the liquid food contained in the main container having a cup-shaped opening would come out from the main container. When the drinking spout member is fitted to the main container, one is able to introduce an appropriate amount of liquid food to the baby""s mouth via the opening of the drinking spout member.
By tilting the main container, the liquid food would be led to the guide means from the opening of the drinking spout member, and the liquid food would not drip because of the barrier portions forming both side edges. At this time, the baby is able to touch the liquid food with his/her upper lip since the top of the guide means is open. In this way, it is possible to train babies to perceive the flow of liquid food through the feeling of their upper lips.
Also, when, through this training, the baby has become able to perceive the flow of liquid through his/her upper lip to some degree, training can be shifted towards taking liquid from an ordinary cup by removing the drinking spout member and having the baby""s mouth on the cup-shaped opening of the main container. In regard to this, liquid food includes a wide range of liquid foods such as liquid beverages and soups which babies are able to take.